Selling Property In Greece To A Borrower

Selling Property In Greece To A Borrower By Christos ILIOPOULOS* Athens, 12 November 2023 Selling your real estate property in Greece, while you live in another country, is not that difficult. At least, it is not much more difficult, than it is for a seller who lives in Greece. You certainly have the difficulty of finding the best buyer, at the price you wish to sell. You do have to sort out the problem of who is to show your property to prospective buyers, while you live abroad and who is to apply for and obtain the numerous certificates from various authorities the law requires the seller to have, in order to be allowed to sell. Also, you need to consider who will negotiate the terms of the sale, how you actually get your money and how this money is deposited to your bank account in Greece, or how it is wired to your bank account abroad. When you live outside of Greece, having a bank account at a bank in Greece is significant and it could help you smooth out the process of receiving the proceeds of the sale. So, if you do have any bank account in Greece, even if you have not used it for ages, or if it does not have any balance, it may be wise to keep it and not to close it, because when you may want to sell or buy property in Greece, having that account will be very useful in future transactions. When you sell your property in Greece, the buyer will pay you either with a certified bank check, or with a direct transfer to your Greek bank account. If the latter happens, you must have internet banking in order you or your lawyer who is signing the closing on your behalf, to be able to confirm and double check at the time of the closing in real time, at the notary’s office, that the funds have actually been deposited to your bank account by the buyer. If that is confirmed, your lawyer will sign the closing deed, the property will leave your ownership and become the ownership of the buyer and you will own the proceeds paid by the buyer to your bank. If the buyer pays with a bank check, the seller will hand over or underwrite the check and give it to your proxy, who will then deposit it to your bank account in Greece, using a power of attorney from you. If you do not own a bank account in your name in Greece, the process of selling your property and receiving the funds becomes slightly more complicated. When the time comes to sign the closing deed, the buyer will have to wire the proceeds of the sale to your bank account abroad, at the country where you live. This cannot be done in seconds, like when the bank accounts of the buyer and of the seller are kept in the same country. In that case, the wire transfer from one country to the other can take a few days until the wire hits your account at the country where you live. The closing deed, however, cannot be signed before you receive the money, because in that case, you are not legally safe. On the other hand, the closing cannot be signed after you receive the money, either, because in that case, it is the buyer who is not legally safe. The usual legal formula to solve this problem is to sign the sale closing deed, while the seller has not yet received the money and to insert in the deed clauses and terms which essentially state that the deed will be quashed and cancelled, should the seller does not receive his/her money within 8 – 10 days average. When the seller receives the wire abroad, the seller gives instructions to his lawyer in Greece to sign another deed, called the release deed. When the buyer buys the property by getting a loan from a bank in Greece, the process requires essentially that the seller owns a bank account in Greece, in order the seller to be able to receive his/her money. This is because the bank which will lend the loan to the buyer, will issue a bank check only in the name of the seller, and not in the name of the buyer, which could be signed by the buyer and then given to the lawyer to be deposited to any bank account in Greece. If the buyer is buying with a loan, the bank’s check can only be deposited at the seller’s bank account in Greece, with a specific power of attorney by the seller to the lawyer in Greece, to have power to deposit the loan check to the seller’s bank account in Greece. The conclusion is that if the seller does not have a bank account in Greece, the seller will have to essentially turn down all the offers from buyers who intend to finance their purchase with a bank loan. This means that the seller’s chances to sell the property are somehow reduced, because many buyers are buying using a bank loan in the type of a mortgage or similar financial schemes. In order to increase the chances to sell the property even to borrowers, the seller can open now a bank account in Greece. This requires the seller to send to the bank in Greece copies of his tax returns in the country of his residence, his telephone and electricity bills and a document proving his occupation or job in the country of his residence or that he is retired, plus a letter and proof from his bank abroad proving that he has a relation with a bank abroad. The Greek bank may also require physical presence in Greece of the seller, in order to give a signature specimen. The sale transaction in Greece will be negotiated, prepared and signed with a power of attorney (POA), which the seller signs to a trusted person in Greece. That person (the proxy) will receive the deposit by the buyer, will identify, apply for and obtain the several documents required by law in order to sell and will eventually sign the closing deed, ensuring at the same time that the seller receives his/her money in a legally safe and timely manner. *Christos ILIOPOULOS, attorney at the Supreme Court of Greece , LL.M. www.greekadvocate.eu e-mail: bm-bioxoi@otenet.gr

Harmonizing The Data Of Greek Properties

Harmonizing The Data Of Greek Properties By Christos ILIOPOULOS* Athens, 10 July 2023 Very often, when the owners of Greek real estate (immovable) property wish to sell or transfer it, they realize that the registration data of their property is incompatible or not harmonized at different state registries. When this happens, the owner must work with an attorney and with a civil engineer, in order to have his/her property re-measured and checked according to modern technical criteria. The civil engineer must inspect and examine the property, whether it is a flat or a house (even when it is a plot or land), and compare its present measurements and other technical descriptions with the description existing at the old land registry, at the modern land registry (Ktimatologio), the E9 list of properties filed with the tax office, the Municipality registry and possibly with other databases. In addition, the property to be sold or transferred (gifted to children, donated etc.), is described in various forms and formats, either briefly or in more detail, in previous deeds and survey maps. Thus, the description of the same property may vary, sometimes significantly, and the discrepancies must be dealt with, in order the data of the property to be harmonized. The sale or transfer of a property starts with a lawyer reviewing the deeds and possibly survey maps and with a title search at the local land registry or at the modern Ktimatologio. Subsequently, a civil engineer must check the technical characteristics of the property in question. The engineer will produce modern, up-to-date measurements and other descriptions of the property. Then, the engineer, the attorney and the notary will compare the present – day measurements with what the older deeds and survey maps state. A deed of twenty, thirty or more years ago may describe the flat as being 95 square meters, while today the c. engineer may measure it as being 98 s.m. In that case, we try to see whether the additional square meters have been “taken” from an adjacent condominium of the same building, or if they are part of the common spaces of the building. Depending on some details, we may first have to modify the charter (main deed) of the building and then sign the sale or transfer of our apartment. In other cases, the civil engineer compares the present – day measurements of the flat or house with its building permit file and very often discrepancies are unearthed. In such cases, we first need to legalize these discrepancies or outright irregularities in the building, pay some small or not so heavy fines to the state and then be allowed by law to sell the flat or house. This stems from older practices of decades ago, when buildings were in reality being constructed not exactly as their permit blueprints showed. Until 2011 such “differences” were usually accommodated and the sales could go through. After 2011, the present and old deeds and survey maps and blueprints are meticulously examined and even minor technical discrepancies (the balcony or the window is 15 centimeters longer or wider), must be declared and settled before we are allowed to sign the closing sale deed at the notary. Even when the property to be sold is a plot or land, we still need the technical identity document of the civil engineer, which will state its exact form, size and surface and will also certify that the plot is bare, meaning that there is no building or house on it. The process of first discovering and then harmonizing the discrepancies is not easy and the lawyer who is usually in charge of the sale from the seller’s side must coordinate with several authorities, like the tax office, the municipality, the building authority and others, as well as with other professionals, including the civil engineer, the notary and the accountant, in order to obtain modern certificates, which will all state the same measurements and the same description of the property, before we reach the office of the notary, to sign the sale or transfer of the property. And even then, more hurdles may have to be overcome, including the registration of the deed of sale / transfer at the local land registry, provided its director does not promote a different interpretation of the law from that of the notary and the lawyers! *Christos ILIOPOULOS, attorney at the Supreme Court of Greece , LL.M. www.greekadvocate.eu e-mail: bm-bioxoi@otenet.gr